Why Our First Product Was a Failure

It’s been almost a year since we started content creation on the Unreal Marketplace & Unity Asset Store. We’ve learnt so much in every aspect – from what customers want, to improving quality in our art packages.

Looking back at our very first pack CountrySide, we hate to admit that it looks mediocre. It didn’t live up to the PolyPixel name and we had to do something about it.

CountrySide V1.0 Screenshots

As you can see the tree quality was not good, the rest of the assets looked mediocre but not close to anything we have done in the last 3-4 packs.

Forum posts and reviews mentioned again and again the low quality of the trees & vegetation and it didn’t settle well with us. We felt like we cheated our customers of the potential of a high quality art pack and knew we had to do something about it.

Our team sat down and made a laundry list of things to do. Here’s what we ended up fixing:

Version 2.0 Improvements:

Added 40 new trees

Improved global foliage material

Re-textured stone wall

Remade terrain material

Remade terrain textures

New demo scene

Added creek

Re-textured rocks

Added dozens of new flowers, weeds and grass

Added nature ambient sounds

Fixed legacy terrain

We just finished up LakeSide Cabin, our new nature environment pack, and learned a ton of new stuff on how to make better trees, ground plants, and rendering/lighting. This was the perfect time to update Countryside while we had momentum.

CountrySide V2.0 Screenshots

The quality has been improved drastically compared to what it was a year ago. It was a great project for us to tackle as we’re able to see the growth in our artists and company over that time. But most important is being able to deliver a product our clients deserve.

We appreciate you, as our customer, giving us honest feedback even if it’s not always positive. It lets us know what’s working and what needs fixing. In the case of CountrySide, we listened to your comments and hopefully delivered with these major improvements. CountrySide V2.0 is our promise to you that we do not abandon our packs.